WWC#29 - Bev's Special Folds Challenge

When I was looking through this week's challenge blogs, I came across Bev's Special Folds Challenge on the Wacky Watercooler challenge site.  

I love getting creative with fancy card folds, so this challenge was right up my alley and made me want to play along too.  

Here's My Card:
Since I have a whole slew of Fall male birthdays hanging in the wings, I chose to make a fancy fold male birthday card.  Choosing the Guys Greetings stamp set for this card was another easy choice.

Supplies:
Stamp Set: Guy Greetings
Ink:  Soft Suede
Card Stock:  Sahara Sand and Soft Suede
Accessories:  Scalloped Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Scalloped Border Punch, Detail Scissors, Woodgrain Embossing Folder (TIEF), Circle Framelits, Big Shot machine, Trimmer, dimensionals and adhesive strip. 

Measurements:

• 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" piece of Soft Suede for card base
• 5 1/4" x 9 1/2" piece of Sahara Sand card stock scored at 2 1/2" and 51/2"
• 5 1/4" x 1" strip of Soft Suede for Scalloped Border layer
• 1/8" x 5 1/4" strip of Soft Suede for inside border
• Additional Sahara Sand for stamping two sets of hats

Special Fold Design:
The design of this card is called an Altered Z fold.  I first saw this design in a video posted by Dawn Griffiths (see link at the end of this post), and later on Pinterest.  This is a very fast and easy fun fold card and can be adapted for any occasion. 

I placed a small pencil mark on the inside of the top and bottom of the circle inside the card so my "guy" image would show well through the opening.

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I used my 2 1/2" Circle Framelits to cut the whole through the two layers of card stock.  The "guy" and the sentiment "To A Classic" were stamped in Soft Suede ink. 

Don't you just love these hats?  I stamped them once in a continuous line on the right edge of the inside of the card.  Using a separate piece of Sahara Sand card stock, I punched them again and then fussy cut and adhered the individual hats with small pieces of dimensionals, to the first stamped images. I also added a 1/8" strip of Soft Suede card stock above the hats, to give some separation between the writing space and the hats.

Note:  If you look at the picture of the stamp set above you'll see there are two sets of hats in the Photopolymer image.  From past experience, I found it really difficult to stamp the hats in a line without getting a halo on my work, so I chose to separate the solid stamp into two stamps by very carefully cutting in between the images.  

I love the old fashioned font they've used for the sentiments in the Guy Greeting stamp set.  I used Soft Suede ink for the "Happy Birthday" greeting and the sponging around the oval and mounted this piece with dimensionals to the background oval. The background layer was punched out with the Scalloped  Edge Oval punch.  Note:  When mounting the greeting layer on the card front make sure the glue only goes half way on the oval so it doesn't show from the inside of the card.  The scalloped edge on the left of the card front was punched from a 5 1/4 by 1" strip of Soft Suede card stock using the Scalloped Edge Border Punch.  Once this piece is in place, the front flap is secured with adhesive. 

The Woodgrain TIEF adds a nice manly texture to the front of the card.  I have to say I found it difficult to emboss this part of the card, it wouldn't fit sideways in the embossing folder. To compensate for this I had to emboss one side of the circle, remove and reposition the embossing folder and run the second side through the Big Shot.  This actually worked out okay and it's difficult to see where the join is. 

 I love these little hats!  I think this grouping added a nice finishing touch to the card front. They were fussy cut and mounted with dimensionals.

So that's it for my challenge card this week. I hope you liked my special fold technique.  If you want more specific information on how to make this Altered Z Fold card just take a look at this card I made last Easter and use the links to see a video by Dawn Griffith.

You can find this card here and a link to Dawn Griffith's  video showing how to make it.  Enjoy!  

Happy Stamping!
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